Which Countries Outlaw Chemical Weapons?

In 2015, the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention declared November 30 the Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare. Although the underlying convention entered into force as early as April 29, 1997, attacks with chemical weapons have verifiably been carried out well into the 21st century.

One well-known example is the Syrian Civil War, where thousands of people were killed and injured due to the use of chemical weapons. The country acceded to the convention in September 2013, only a couple of weeks after a sarin gas attack in Damascus' Ghouta district. Reuters reports that a coalition of various rights groups and legal experts has now unveiled its plan to create a tribunal at The Hague able to persecute perpetrators of such attacks worldwide. Our map shows that as of 2018, almost every country in the world either signed and ratified or acceded to the convention.

Only four countries haven't ratified or signed the treaty yet. While Israel signed on to the convention in January 1993, it hasn't enshrined any of the measures in its national legislation at the time of writing. Egypt, South Sudan and North Korea aren't classified as states parties at all, which leads some spectators to believe these countries still possess illegal chemical weapons.

As for the 193 states and regions partially or fully passing legislation to adhere to the Chemical Weapons Convention, according to verified data by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 100 percent of all declared stockpiles have been destroyed and all of the production plants for chemical weapons have either been dismantled or converted to a peaceful purpose.

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction or Chemical Weapons Convention is meant to be an addendum to the Geneva Convention, which already prohibits the use of biological and chemical weapons in war but not their production, possession or trade.

The convention text was drafted in September 1992. The treaty was open for signatures from January 13, 1993 to April 29, 1997. Key obligations for states parties of the conventions are not to "develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile or retain chemical weapons, or transfer, directly or indirectly, chemical weapons to anyone", "to use chemical weapons" and "to assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Convention."